This is a list of Canadian Rock Classics…unfortunately most of the Chart Lists are gone, CHUM Radio would issue their CHUM Charts but inconveniently lost or decided not to include them when they revamped their site.
The old CHUM Charts were the Canadian version of the US Billboard Chart.
Most of these groups and artists hail from the 60’s and 70’s ( however, this list may be expanded to include other decades ) and may contain anecdotes, mostly from my own recollections…however the year they charted and how high they charted simply isn’t possible without access to the old CHUM Charts.
Canadian Rock Classics
A Passing Fancy – I Believe in Sunshine
The Ugly Ducklings – Gaslight
Bobby Curtola – Fortuneteller – had a string of popular hits
Chad Allan & The Expressions – Shakin’ All Over – later this group turned into the Guess Who
Lords of London – Cornflakes and Ice Cream
The Guess Who – American Woman – Randy Bachman went on to form Bachman Turner Overdrive
Staccatos – Half Part Midnight – This Les Emerson group was the one that turned into the Five Man Electrical Band
Bachman Turner Overdrive – Takin’ Care Of Business
Five Man Electrical Band – Signs
Les Emmerson – Control Of Me
Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks – Bo Diddley – John Lennon spent some time on his ranch in Ontario
The Band – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – After leaving Ronnie in 63′ they called themselves the Canadian Esquires, Levon & The Hawks, and then The Crackers before settling on The Band
Jack London & The Sparrows – If You Don’t Want My Love – This was the group that spanned Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild
Mars Bonfire – Here Nor There – John’s ( John Kay of Steppenwolf ) brother Dennis went by the name Mars Bonfire
David Clayton Thomas and the Bossmen – Brainwashed – was also with the Shaws, went on to Blood, Sweat & Tears…this song was bleeped by David Clayton Thomas himself because he knew the word ‘ damn ‘ wouldn’t get past the CRTC
Blood, Sweat & Tears – And When I Die
Mandala – Love-Itis
Paupers – Never Send You Flowers – Skip Prokop left this moderately successful group to form Lighthouse
Lighthouse – Sunny Days – Lighthouse was the first band to have a record certified platinum: Lighthouse Live
Fludd – Cousin Mary – Their members included Jim Crichton who formed Saga, Doni Underhill of Trooper, and Greg Godovitz of Goddo
Valdy – Play Me A Rock ‘n’ Roll Song
Bruce Cockburn – Lovers In A Dangerous Time
Buffy Sainte-Marie – Up Where We Belong – Her music was officially suppressed during the USA’s Lyndon Johnson years for being subversive, she also wrote songs for Elvis, Donovan, Barbara Streisand, and Cher. Another hit for her was He’s An Indian Cowboy In The Rodeo
Joni Mitchell – Big Yellow Taxi
Andy Kim – Baby I love you – Andy Kim also attempted a comeback in the 80’s as Baron Longfellow, and wrote the song Sugar Sugar by the Archies
Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah – He was the first ( yes even before Dylan ) to merge poetry and music
The Irish Rovers – The Unicorn Song
Murray McLauchlan – No Time Together Today
The Mugwumps – Everybody’s Been Talkin’ – This Canadian group included the American Cass Elliot of the Mamas and Papas
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Do You Believe in Magic – was co-founded by Zalman “Zal” Yanovsky ( lead guitarist and a lead vocalist ) who was Canadian
The Stampeders – Devil You
Poppy Family – Which Way You Goin’ Billy – Terry Jacks married Susan Pesklevits, and together they formed The Poppy Family
Terry Jacks – Concrete Sea
Mashmakhan – As The Years Go By – Jerry Mercer and Brian Greenway of April Wine were members of this group
April Wine – Sign of the Gypsy Queen – Although they had great success with this song it was actually a cover of the original by Lorence Hud
Rush – Tom Sawyer – the group formed in Toronto in 1969
Triumph – Lay It On The Line
Max Webster – Battle Scar – Max Webster included Kim Mitchell & Terry Watkinson…the group broke up while on the verge of superstar success
Kim Mitchell – Go For Soda
Tom Cochrane and Red Rider – Big League – This group started out just as Red Rider
StreetHeart – What Kind of Love is This?
Trooper – Raise a Little Hell – Canada’s first group to have a record certified quadruple platinum
Sweeney Todd – Roxy Roller – This group broke the charts with 3 different lead singers…Nick Gilder, Perry Clark, and a 16 year old Bryan Adams
Chilliwack – Watcha Gonna Do – Was formed from The Collectors
Neil Young – Heart of Gold – Neil Young started with The Squires, then The Mynah Byrds, went on to Buffalo Springfield, then with Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Crowbar – Oh What A Feeling
The Gainsborough Gallery – Life is a Song
Ginette Reno – Beautiful Second Hand Man
Gordon Lightfoot – Black Day In July
Quiet Jungle – Ship Of Dreams
The Last Words – I Symbolize You
Edward Bear – Masquerade
A Foot In Coldwater – (Make Me Do) Anything You Want
Doctor Music – Sun Goes By
Abraham’s Children – Gypsy
Ken Tobias – I Just Want To Make Music
Skylark – Wildflower
Peter Foldy – Bondi Junction
Michael Tarry – Rosalie
Charity Brown – You Beat Me To The Punch – was the lead singer for Rain
Rain – Out Of My Mind
Dave Nicol – Goodbye Mama
Barenaked Ladies – One Week
Ian & Sylvia – Lovin’ Sound
The Bells – Stay Awhile
Blue Rodeo – Five Days In May
Crash Test Dummies – Superman’s Song
Copperpenny – Sitting On A Poor Man’s Throne
DeFranco Family – Heartbeat, It’s A Lovebeat
Doug & The Slugs – Makin’ It Work
The DownChild BluesBand – Flip-Flop & Fly
Glass Tiger – Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone
Great Big Sea – Ordinary Day
Harlequin – I did it for love
Helix – Rock You
Honeymoon Suite – Burning In Love
Jeff Healey – As The Years Passing By
Kensington Market – I Would Be The One
Loverboy – Turn Me Loose
Martha And The Muffins – Echo Beach
The Tragically Hip – New Orleans is Sinking
Sum 41 – With Me
Stonebolt – I Will Still Love You
Steel River – Ten Pound Note
Sheriff – When I’m With You
Rough Trade – High School Confidential – was one of the first explicitly lesbian-themed Top 40 hits in the world
Prism – Spaceship Superstar
Parachute Club – Rise Up
Ocean – Put your hand in the hand
Our Lady Peace – Somewhere Out There
Jackson Hawke – You Can’t Dance – England Dan and John Ford Coley’s cover of this original became an International hit
The Original Caste – One Tin Soldier – popularized by the Billy Jack movies
Octavian – Good Feeling (To Know)
Bond – Dancin’ (On A Saturday Night) – the original was done by Barry Blue
Joey Gregorash – Jodie
Bob McBride – Pretty City Lady – was the voice of Lighthouse during their hit years
Vanity 6 – Nasty Girl – the lead singer ( Denise Katrina Matthews aka Vanity ) is Canadian
Ian Thomas – Painted Ladies – he is younger brother to comedian and actor Dave Thomas
Pagliaro – Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy
Anne Murray – Snowbird
Long John Baldry – Let The Heartaches Begin – lived in Canada from 1970 till his death…Mick Jagger, Elton John ( who took the John from Baldry ), and Rod Stewart, among others played in his band at one time or another
Sarah McLachlan – Angel
The Tea Party – Heaven Coming Down
Luba – Everytime I See Your Picture
Kathryn Dawn Lang – Constant Craving
Nick Gilder – Hot Child in the City – born in England he was raised in Vancouver
Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers – Does Your Mama Know About Me – Tommy Chong was a member of this group before he became famous as a comedian
Bryan Adams – Summer of ’69
Keith Hampshire – Big Time Operator
Southcote – She
Gary & Dave – Could You Ever Love Me Again
Lisle – Shelly Made Me Smile
Shawne Jackson – Just As Bad As You – probably the only Canadian artist issued on a Playboy label
The Hood – Cause We’re In Love – a cover written and recorded by the Canadian group The Beau Marks
The Beau-Marks – Cause We’re In Love
Shooter – I Can Dance (Long Tall Glasses) – originally known as The Greaseball Boogie Band
Major Hoople’s Boarding House – I’m Running After You
This list doesn’t even begin to cover the 100’s of groups/artists that came out of Canada…or were fronted by a Canadian…not even all the most popular ones are listed…but this list does cover the diversity of talent that made and still makes Canada a rock and pop resource pool to be reckoned with.
Some of these groups and artists had several hits but I’ve opted to just post one song from each, and not necessarily their most popular song…
and, as always, the links go to the song we posted on Blip and availability is determined by Blip.
If you have a favorite Canadian group or artist not mentioned here please leave a comment.
118 groups or artists are presently listed.
You might want to check out our one-hit wonder collection lists:
One-Hit Wonders: Popular and Rare
One-Hit Wonders of the 60’s: Popular and Rare
Top Twenty One-Hit Wonders in the UK: 1960-1999
Top Ten One-Hit Wonders of the 90’s
Top Ten One-Hit Wonders of the 80’s
Top Ten One-Hit Wonders of the 70’s
Top Ten One-Hit Wonders of the 60’s
also our number-one hit collections:
Number One Hits in the UK: 1960s
Number One Hits in the UK: 1970s
Number One Hits in the UK: 1980s
Number One Hits in the UK: 1990s
also our hit collections:
100 Greatest Rock Classics: 1960-1999
Rock Classics: Remembering the Classics…songs that never made our other lists
Rock Classics: Remembering the Classics…songs that never made our other lists : Part Two
Rock Classics: that almost never get played anymore
Rock Classics: that almost never get played anymore: Part Two
Rock Classics: that almost never get played anymore: Part Three
Weird and Wacky Rock Classics: sometimes NSFW
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Hiya Djfunkysounds! Good to see ya!
The 70’s Steel Breeze was actually an American band from Sacramento, California…and the 80’s group Big Country was actually from Scotland…unless you’re thinking about 2 different groups with possibly the same name.
But there are several Canadian artists/groups not listed, as I wasn’t trying to be all-inclusive, I just concentrated primarily on the main ones that had a profound affect on the Canadian music industry. Canada churned out 100’s of artists/groups, for instance Paul Anka isn’t listed even though he was huge in Canada and the US but he really didn’t do much in way of influencing the scene. 😉
TAZ
Nice list. A lot of my faves here. There was a Canadian Band called Steel Breeze that had some cool songs. (You don’t want me any more) is one title I remember. I also did not see Big Country on the list, I believe they were Canadian.